This patent is directed to a casino gaming apparatus, which could be either an individual gaming unit or a casino gaming system having a plurality of gaming units, each gaming unit capable of secure communication within the casino gaming system.
A gaming apparatus of the type used in casinos has included a display unit such as a video display unit or a set of mechanical slot machine reels, a value input device such as a coin slot or paper currency reader, and a controller operatively coupled to the display unit and the value input device and having a processor and a memory operatively coupled to the processor. The controller was programmed to control the overall functions of the gaming machine, including generating game displays representing one or more of a number of casino games, such as poker, blackjack, slots, keno or bingo.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,149,522 to Alcorn, et al. discloses a gaming apparatus of the type described above. The Alcorn, et al. patent also discloses the preparation of gaming data which includes subjecting the gaming data to a hash function to generate a message digest and the subsequently encrypting of the message digest using an encryption key to form an encrypted message digest. Gaming data is authenticated by the gaming apparatus by decrypting the encrypted message digest and then comparing that unencrypted message digest with a hash of the original gaming data. U.S. Pat. No. 5,759,102 to Pease, et al. discloses a method and apparatus for downloading information to a plurality of gaming terminals from a central computer.